(Basildon Town and Hutton do battle in their Fourth Round tie last month, a tie Town edged 2-1)
Next weekend (Saturday 5th March) sees the Semi Finals of the Essex Premier Cup take place, lets remind ourselves of those ties:-
Clapton Community Vs Woodford East
Sungate Vs Catholic United
Clapton Community are representing the Middlesex County League and are having a very good season in the Premier Division, sitting third and only four points off league leaders FC Soma with two games in hand in them too, and they take on Woodford East who will be representing the Essex Alliance League and they too have been having a good season so far, sitting fourth in the Senior Division, nine points off leaders DTFC, and also with two games in hand having only lost one game in the league all season to date.
The other semi final sees an all Essex Olympian League Premier Division match up as Sungate take on Catholic United, both sides are pretty much locked together in seventh and sixth respectively, Sungate have played three games less then their opponents though and are just one point below them, both have won nine of their league games this term, but both have also lost several too in what has been a mixed season for both, and are both well of the pace for the top positions as a result, so a run in this competition has certainly helped both sides.
Let's now look back in detail how all four sides managed to reach the semi-final stage:-
First Round
The competition got underway way back on September 18th, but only one of the four semi finalists, Sungate, actually played in this round, as Clapton Community, Woodford East and Catholic United all got byes through to the Second Round, so just one game to look back on at this stage, and it saw Sungate travel to Essex & Suffolk Border League Premier Division side AFC Barnston:-
AFC Barnston 0 Sungate 3
Sungate begin their Premier Cup campaign with a three goal victory at High Easter Road against their Border League hosts, and according to the hosts they were beaten by a very good Sungate side, so the Olympian side certainly got their cup run off to a decent start, and joined the other three now semi finalists in Round Two.
Second Round
The second round took place on October 16th, with only three of the four now semi-finalists taking to the pitch (reason explained below), let's see how their campaigns began and how Sungate's continued:-
Clapton Community H-W Wakebury
Wivenhoe Town Reserves 0 Sungate 6
Herongate Athletic 1 Catholic United 2
White Ensign Reserves 1 Woodford East 2
Clapton Community's tie against Olympian Division Two side Wakebury didn't take place as the visitors withdrew from the competition, meaning the hosts effectively had two byes through to the Third Round, Sungate continued their comfortable run in the competition after they netted six second half goals against Wivenhoe's Reserve side to progress, making it nine goals without reply in their two away ties thus far, however the other two sides it was anything but comfortable. Catholic squeezed past Olympian One side Herongate thanks to goals from Aaron Baldwin and Jay Nash, whilst Woodford East needed goals from Frank Glock and Adam Tabbani to squeeze past Ensign's Reserve side in what was a superb result for Halil Hassan's side, with Joe Kemp putting in a solid defensive display to earn the MOTM award.
Third Round
After another month went by the Third Round action took place on November 20th, here is how the four semi-finalists progressed:-
Catholic United 3 West Essex Development 2
Sungate 4 Wakering Sports 0
Leigh Town 3 Clapton Community 5 (aet)
May & Baker 'A' 3 Woodford East 5
Catholic had another tough game and needed a brace from James Warder plus a solo strike from Temiloluwa Adebayo to win against West Essex Development in the odd goal in five, Sungate continued to smash everyone before them in this competition as they netted another four goals without reply in seeing off Olympian Division One side Wakering Sports, and the other two ties yielded plenty of action and goals it's fair to say. Clapton Community had to survive a scare against Olympian One side Leigh Town, with goals from Briggs, Kwakye, Taylor and a Wright brace seeing them through after extra time in an eight goal thriller, and Woodford East were also involved in an eight goal thriller against May & Baker's A side, Adam Tabbani put in a goal scoring MOTM performance and there was a brace from Billy Barr as well as further goals from Ben Smith & Lucio Uare.
Fourth Round
The Fourth Round saw teams return to action after a small break for Christmas and New Year, and Covid of course, meaning most sides went straight back into competitive action with a Last 16 Premier Cup tie to contend with, not ideal but it is what it is, so let's see how they got on:-
Colne Athletic 3 Catholic United 5
Sungate 5 Harold Hill 1
Dunmow Town 3 Woodford East 1 (Woodford Town awarded tie and given away walkover win)
Clapton Community 4 Leigh Ramblers 2
Catholic were involved in an eight goal thriller away at Border League side Colne Athletic but saw a brace from James Warder plus strikes from Aaron Baldwin, Jay Nash and Alfie Whiteaker enough to send them into the Quarter Finals, and although Sungate finally conceded a goal in the competition, they netted another five themselves as they thrashed Olympian Two side Harold Hill. Now Woodford East thought they had exited the competition after they were beaten at Border League Dunmow Town with the East goal coming from Will Letchford, but Woodford were subsequently awarded the tie I suspect after the hosts made an administrative error, although I cannot find any info online, so am not sure what happened there, anyway Woodford were reprieved and put through to the Last Eight. Finally for this round Clapton Community netted four as they saw off Olympian Premier side Leigh Ramblers, with the goals coming from J Adejokun, N. Adejokun, Austin and Stevens.
Quarter Finals
And so to the previous round, which took place at the end of January/begging of February, let's see how the four semi-finalists won through to next weekend's ties:-
Catholic United 2 Stanway Pegasus 1
Sungate 5 Basildon Town 3 (aet)
Clapton Community 3 Manford Way 2
Tiptree Heath 2 Woodford East 5
Catholic netted a superb win over Border League side Stanway Pegasus thanks to goals from Harley Kee and Michael Sammut, they are the only side to have defeated Pegasus this season as the visitors have won 20 of their 22 league games so far and are unbeaten, so thus was no mean feat for Catholic, whilst at Ilford Wanderers Rugby Club Sungate netted another five goals but this tie was their first real test. Sungate had netted eighteen goals and only conceded one so far in the competition but came up against fellow Olympian Premier side Basildon Town and after the game ended 3-3, Sungate managed to net twice in extra time to progress in what seemed like a cracker of a cup tie. Clapton Community were given another scare against Division Two Olympian side Manford Way, but goals from Briggs, Smyth and Taylor saw them squeeze through, and Woodford East netted five as they took full advantage of their reinstatement into the competition by thrashing Border League side Tiptree Heath. Connor Brathwaite put in a goal scoring MOTM performance for the visitors, netting a brace, and there were also goals for Ben Smith, Adam Tallani and Frank Glock.
So that is where we stand going into next weekend's semi finals, I hope to be at the Clapton Community Vs Woodford East tie, both ties look sure to be good contests, hard to call who will win through to the Final which takes place at Billericay Town on Wednesday 13th April with a 7.45pm kick off. Who will be there competing for the prestigious Premier Cup trophy??? We will find out soon enough.....
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